Danny - John Travolta! Cultist who you would never recognize without the credits - well maybe that chin.

Mrs. Preston - Matriarch of the Preston clan, her soul is demon fodder real early on.

The Plot:

Can you believe this cast? It's amazing! It's astounding! It scares the hell out of me! Who would have thought disco movie icon John Travolta would start out here, "Grease" was made before it but "The Devil's Rain" hit the box office first. Add Shatner to any plot with Satanists and it's going to be good, he sold something for his fame and it appears to have been the ability to speak like a regular human being.

The movie's premise is that all the characters are reincarnated forms of their ancestors who once worshipped the devil. Julie's character back then betrayed the group by stealing "the book" and they were burned at the stake. Now, years later, Corbus has risen again and only needs "the book" to secure his power.

Two reasons to see this film:
1) The cast! William Shatner, Tom Skerritt, Ernest Borgnine, John Travolta, and Eddie Albert in a goofy film about the Devil?
2) The last ten minutes of this film involves all the Satanists melting into what appears to be lime sherbet.

Though it's moderately painful, I would recommend you see this film just for the novelty of it.

Things I Learned From This Movie:

All the credits belong at a movie's beginning, accompanied by the screaming of lost souls.

Caught this flick the way it was meant to be seen--at five a.m. on the late late late movie on TV. Truly spellbindingly bad. The sight of Earnest Borgnine turning from his naturally frightening state into satan/goatboy/whatever complete with horns is not to be missed. It undoubtedly must have made the Academy think of taking back his Oscar on principle. I learned two other things about this movie that your site did not mention. First, when satan worshipers with no eyes in black robes get shot, they bleed antifreeze, not frozen yogurt as the last scene of the movie would have you believe. Second, Earnest Borgnine's eyebrows, even when not in satan costume, still make him look like the devil. He really should have thought of an eyebrow trim for his "human" scenes. I'm surprised this film is not considered more of a "bad" classic than it seemed to be at five a.m. this morning.

This is one of the greatest pictures ever made! If not for the numerous aforementioned reasons, because small parts are played by Doktor Anton Szandor LaVey and his then wife Diane. Doktor LaVey founded the Church of Satan in 1966 c.e. and served as High Priest for over 30 years until his death in '97. The Church of Satan continues proudly and Doktor LaVey's books such as the Satanic Bible have sold millions of copies!

Interestingly, lgworld@aol.com brought up Dr. Phibes, and as it turns out both Dr. Phibes and The Devil's Rain were directed by the same fellow (Anton Fuest). Obviously he had much better material to work with (and probably a higher budget) on the Phibes film...

A good film. Required viewing for those who need a good scare. The special effects involving people melting to wax is gross. And if some of you people are real film buffs that don't say every film is BAD, check this flick out on DVD or video and is presented in it's original 2.35:1 Todd-Ao widescreen. Avoid the bad panned and scanned version. Actor Ernest Borgnine is effective as the Devil in this A+++ film.

Saw this on TV at the age of six and it scared the s**t outa me! Took me days before I could sleep. It was the melting guy that did it. Im eager to see it now that im at a mature age (24) and can fully enjoy it without p**sing in my pants.

I've seen this movie twice. The first time it was on Monstervision with my hero, Joe Bob Briggs. The second time was again just last night when one of my friends insisted on seeing it for one of our movie nights. I just wanted to say that it was just as painful the second time around. Even Skerritt, Shatner, and Borgnine couldn't save this movie. Ouch.

I am the friend mentioned in ebolamonk's response and I disagree. This movie was wonderful at 4:00 in the morning. Come on now, this movie was quite amusing. I say it was the best of the night, and one of the best movies of our movie nights.